


Plagued

by iremainastranger



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst and Humor, Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Smut, Hurt Tony Stark, I Don't Even Know, Loki Has Issues, Loki is Not Amused, Loki might be dying, M/M, Magic, Near Death Experience, Sexual Tension, Sexual Violence, Tony Angst, Tony Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, What Was I Thinking?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-21
Updated: 2015-08-10
Packaged: 2017-12-15 17:24:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/852094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iremainastranger/pseuds/iremainastranger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Four months after the New York incident, Tony can't deal with anything. Not his job, not his love-life, not himself. His self-destructive impulses change and the only saving grace is the reemergence of the jolly green bastard who made him this way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Fucked

**Author's Note:**

> So here is my first ever posted Frostiron work and apologize that it may be a bit rough and in need of modifications.

Tony sighed heavily over the rim of his coffee cup, his head beginning to throb with the dull ache of another migraine. He hadn't slept in 96 hours and it didn't seem to be coming anytime soon. He leaned forward and pressed his forehead to the cold steel of his working desk and shut his eyes in a futile attempt to stop the pain. The sheer pain of being conscious was ripping his mind apart. The lack of sleep wasn't helping his work, nor was it really hurting it, he just felt stagnant. Another tinker toy just wasn't enough to lull this dull ache that rose and told him he was empty and incomplete. The was something broken, shattered and missing from him and he didn't know what it was. He was still his same old self in the manner that he was still a genius, but the rest was dwindling. It was hard to maintain a playboy status when utterly everyone bored you and you had driven the one woman who had ever meant anything real to you away. another sigh left his weary body as his thoughts consumed him, but wouldn't allow him to rest. He sat up and pressed the warm mug to his forehead, holding it in both hands and stared into the void. "Fuck," he whispered under his breath.

"Sir, may i suggest you leave the lab for this evening and perhaps indulge in a meal?" JARVIS spoke from the recess speakers above. Tony weakly nodded and rose from his stool in a half-hearted manner. What did it matter anyways? In the lab, on his couch, in his bed, he'd be empty and alone and awake no matter where he actually was physically. His mind would be off analyzing every mistake, breaking down the impossibilities his eyes had witness, still trying to console himself. Months had passed and he still wasn't together enough to let it go. That's why Pepper had finally given up and moved on. That's why he hadn't donned the suit in four months. He just couldn't accept what had happened to him, why he had survived. It was something he had never questioned before, but now it plagued every corner of his mind. Afghanistan, Obadiah, palladium poisoning, Vanko, the Chitauri, Loki... how had he survived any of that? He didn't deserve to be alive. 

He left the lab and went to his living room, barely gazing at the sunrise greying the sky outside his windows. Plopping ungracefully on the couch, he stared into the bland-colored carpet and cursed himself silently. He'd never been this low in his life. He'd never been this sober in his life either. Four months and he couldn't even look at the expensive bottles of scotch without wincing a little and immediately recounting every detail of that day, that horrible fucking day that never ceased to bring the terror to his mind. If only he could drink to forget, but it was the very thing that made him remember so vividly. The nonchalance he'd taken when Loki stood before him in his own tower, acting as if he was in control only to be thrown into free-fall moments later. and since that moment, he hadn't been able to regain that control. The control that was so integral to his being and guided everything he did. The control that he'd spent most of his life wresting from Howard's cold, dead fingers. He had lost it, completely lost it with no sense of how it had left or how to regain it. It wasn't just denied or prohibited, it was stolen, violently taken and ripped from his core. 

The cool blue glow of the arc reactor danced before him over the taut flesh of his forearms as he sank his head back into his palms. It was useless trying to figure it out now, it was pointless to feel this way. He had been lucky, he survived the fall from the window, the Chitauri invasion, and the collapsing wormhole all in a single day. He should be praising some higher power, giving big ups to The Almighty, and doing snoopy dances, but somewhere in the whole encounter he had lost the very will to be himself and recklessly celebrate his escape from near death. And why the fuck was that?  
"I don't even fucking know," he grumbled and laid back against the cushions.

"I'm sorry, sir?" the AI called overhead and Tony just waved a dismissive hand, too tired to explain that he had finally crossed over into the insanity that had been beckoning all his life. That was the trouble with genius, it always manifested itself with madness. 

"Stark," a whisper of a voice called out to him, and surely he must be insane when the voice in his head actually took on real tangible sound. Or maybe....."JARVIS?" Tony yelled but was met with silence, he called out again only to be met with a sinister chuckle coming from directly behind him. Shit. Quickly, he stood from the couch and turned toward the voice only to wish he'd ignored the sound completely.

"What the--" Tony started, but was immediately cut off be the 6'2" god that was leaning over the back of his couch, sans armor, with a toying expression in his eyes. 

"Spare me your imprudent obscenities, Stark, I have little patience for your lip this night," he said. Tony scowled, but kept his timely "fuck you, Rudolph" to himself. "Ah, see. You do still have a sense of self-preservation. Now sit, I have need of your skills," the god replied cryptically, his green eyes flashing over the engineer's face. Tony complied, watching as Loki stalked almost predatory towards him and towered over him in the darkened livingroom. It would be a lie to say that Tony wasn't intrigued, honestly how often did a god of Norse legend appear in one's home after being imprisoned in another realm not four months ago. And how often did said foreign deity require mortal help? He was interested, no doubt. 

"And what can I do for the horned goblin of Asgard?" he grimaced wryly, avoiding the emerald gaze that scrutinized him coldly. He heard the exasperated sigh escape Loki and that made him smirk in his old familiar way. "Do not ever again besmirch my being by comparing me to something so base and low as a goblin, Stark, or you will pay very dearly for such a slight," Loki warned, catching Tony's jaw in his long fingers and leveled his eyes on the engineer's large brown gaze. Tony swallowed thickly and nodded out of reflex. 

"Good, you might live up to your title of mortal genius after all. Now, as for the assistance I require from you. I want you to create a device that hampers my magical aura without actually restricting my magical abilities. I have tried to prefect a spell on several occasions, but the side-effects are undesirable. You will create a mechanism that will mask my magical signature and I will allow you this opportunity to gain intimate knowledge about my spectral faculties," the god stated simply, his fingers trailing over the inventor's throat before dropping away entirely. He felt the reverberating shudder of Tony's body responding to his touch and took in the way his breathing shortened with a keen interest. The effect he was having on the mortal was both unexpected and beneficial in this circumstance. 

"You want anything else? My soul and firstborn?" Tony barked in a broken voice. Loki smiled wolfishly, looking more ghastly in the dark than Tony could have possibly remembered. 

"I am already in possession of your soul, Anthony, or hadn't you noticed?" the god chuckled deep and dark, making Tony's eye widen in shock. 

"What the hell does that mean?" he asks coldly, ignoring the bitter realization searing in his gut. There was no way that was possible. Loki could not have his fucking soul, that was just sheer madness.

"You pathetic, naive, simple mortal. Did you think I merely wished to control your mind that day I flung you from your tower? What benefit is granted to me in having a mindless 'genius'. I mean to have you highly motivated while allied to my purpose. I hold your soul , Stark. That ensures that not only that you will comply eagerly, but that you will do so in a timely fashion knowing I can destroy you on a whim should you dare to displease me and make me wait. So, Anthony Edward Stark, what have you to say?"

Tony gritted his teeth until it physically hurt. He couldn't refuse, but he damned sure wasn't just going to bend over and cater to Loki under any circumstances. His hard brown eyes squared on Loki's like a petulant child trying not to cry while he's being punished. "How much fucking time do I get?" he spat venomously.

"I'll be generous and give you three weeks from tomorrow," Loki smiled ever-so serenely in Tony's face. 

"Fine."

"Until tomorrow then, my dearest engineer," Loki purrs and vanishes from sight, leaving Tony once again utterly alone in his home. Tony scowled into the vacant air in front of him, wishing he had had the will to argue with Loki just a little bit more. But what he said frightened him beyond belief and he couldn't bare the thought of a socio-psychopathic fallen demi-god having his cold, spindly fingers on his soul. He was Tony Stark and shit like that did not happen to him. He knew in that moment before he finally fell blissfully asleep for the first time in months that he was completely fucked. But boy did it feel good to sleep without nightmares again.


	2. Not Just A Sleep-Deprived Hallucination

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Loki repeatedly puts Tony in his place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohmigosh! I never expected to be this well received, but thank you all so much! So Loki is kinda malicious in this chapter, he kinda went more evil on me than expected, but I promise he'll ease up as we go along.

Loki bided his time waiting for Tony to wake. The mortal looked like a haggard dog on the verge of keeling over into death and while that had its charms, Loki was in need of a live genius billionaire. He watched him from an orb he'd produced in his hotel room. This was the final piece of his plan and though he was loath to be so reliant on anything from Midgardian, he couldn't pull this off alone anymore. It pained him that the very source of his power was stifling and forcing him into this unusual and compromising position. He would never admit to being weakened but the truth was he was. Something in his magical composition was less than it should be and he himself was unable to identify what it was. Not only couldn't he sustain certain spells for long periods of time but he also felt physically drained after performing any sort of sorcery which was more than troubling. he vainly hoped that in allowing the only other person he deemed worthy enough in brain power to examine him under this pretense of needing specialized weaponry, he'd find some sort of answer. No mage could know his terrible secret without exploiting it and while if Tony ever found out he'd definitely use it to his advantage, Loki found him a worthy adversary, deserving of whatever physical expenditure it would cost the god. As Loki brooded over his situation further, a flicker in his orb called him from his thoughts. Tony was moving, waking from his spell-induced slumber and stretching. 

The engineer sat up from his couch, rubbing his eyes and feeling a strange sense of vertigo. He waited for his eyes to adjust to the weak morning light. He raked his calloused fingers through his mussed hair and rose from the cushions to brew his customary cup of coffee in the kitchen when he was stopped short by incredibly long, black-clad legs and startling green eyes. Thing didn't take kindly to the second intrusion of his home, nor being messed with quite this early. He scowled darkly up at Loki, a scathing remark fighting to fall from his lips. He was like a grumpy kitten, all fluffed up and perturbed in the god's sight. "Now Stark," Loki began in a placating tone. 

"So it's safe to assume that yesterday wasn't some sleep-deprived hallucination?" Tony sighed weakly. "I guess you want me to get started now." He was less than happy to be on Loki's leash, even less so than the fact that he was awake before seven. 

"Don't tell me this was unexpected, Stark. Surely you of all people know I'm   
quite diligent in acquiring things I need and want," the god purred dangerously. 

 

"What about what I need and want?" Tony challenged in a growl. 

Loki cocked his head to the side with one eyebrow shot up his pale brow, inspecting the mortal as if he were a strange insect. "What you require I have already freely offered and am here to supply. As to what you want," the weird came out bitterly venomous,"it is inconsequential and unprofitable to me to concern me with what you desire, therefore I don't care." His smooth voice showed no hint of emotion as he stared Tony down and straightened his stance. Defiantly, Tony glared up at the god, his jaw working in tensed anger. "Then I won't do it," he responded flatly. 

Tony expected anger and yelling to follow. He expected Loki top turn red with rage and possibly do him physical bodily harm as well as tear into his already shredded psyche. What he got was a swelling, sonorous chuckle that echoed off the quiet walls and scared him half to death. "Oh brave Anthony Edward Stark, standing in the face of his destruction like a true hero. Arrogant and proud as ever. I applaud you, I really do," Loki laughed and clapped his hands together, adding to the reverberating sound of his laughter. Tony merely continued to glare. "Shall I tell you what I have done with your pathetic mortal soul? Hmmm? Because I've not removed it from your body yet, but I have suppressed it. Compressed it into a tiny, tiny fraction and locked it away inside your body so that you may remain alive for as long as I deem you useful to me. The very essence of your being, the personality of the man you once knew will never return, because it is non-essential to my purpose. You can still feel emotion and yes, you can still hate me all you want, but you will never be able to retaliate in the way you once could. The part of you that was foolhardy and reckless, the part of you that was rebellious and free, the part that was Iron Man; I have taken it from you and you will never get it back if you continue to defy me. Do you continue to refuse? If you do, know that I have the power to peel back the layers of your mind and completely unravel you until the only thing you understand is pain and then I will simply torment your body in every agonizing way possible until you are no more."

Tony swallowed thickly, a real sense of dread seeping into his bones, chilling him to the core. Had he been his normal self, he probably would have laughed in the face of such danger and made some snarky comment about villains and their monologues, but he couldn't even think beyond the intensity of Loki's threats. "No...I....I won't refuse," he said in a small voice that can hardly be characterized as his own. 

"Then shall we proceed to your laboratory?" 

Tony nodded and led him towards the elevator, feeling completely list within himself. He finally was the thing he had dreaded becoming, the thing he had changed his entire life to avoid; a soulless creation abetting evil for selfish gain. The god followed, his lithe body stalking the billionaire like a panther out for the hunt. Trapped in the elevator together, the two men stood in silence, both listening to the rapid rabbiting of tony's pulse as they descended into the bowels of the Tower. 

When the doors opened to reveal the genius's workspace it was terrifying to see. Tools and blueprints were scattered on the floor. Forgotten holographic drafts spun and displayed haphazardly throughout the air at various odd points.There were half built and half torn apart machines and devices strewn across every surface and Dummy was whirling in circles off in the corner. It look like a mad scientist's demented lab, which honestly wasn't too far from the truth. Loki surveyed the mess around him, his face harden with the absence of emotion as he calculated how far into his own madness Tony had already fallen. He hadn't lied when he threatened to crush the inventor's soul, what he had neglected to mention that a highly-functioning individual without the presence of its eternal self would start destroying itself anyway. Of course had he known, Tony would have told Loki to go to hell and either let himself die or figure out how to rebuild a soul, he was just that insane.

Loki crossed to a table and picked up a green glowing rod that had several buttons on one end and what appeared to be attachments that fit over it. He picked it up and twirled through his fingers. Tony watched the blatant display of dexterity with a touch of concern. It was supposed to be a multi-functioning weaponized rod for Clint, It could be converted into any number of shapes and lengths, bent to an arc, and the attachments were various explosives and projectiles. 

Watching his device in the god's hands, he began to realize that he had already begun to regress into an arms manufacturer and can't hold that against Loki entirely, or can he? He wants to, he wants to hold onto every last shred of anger against the man standing in his workshop and hate him until he finds a way to kill him. He wants nothing more than to rip this man apart, but he knows that he can't. Even if Loki did not have such a hold on his soul, he could not kill him just out of agitated spite and hatred because he was essentially still the good guy. Still the guy who could mitigate a world crisis and defend the planet. He was still a hero, it just happened to be buried, even more so now, under everything else. 

Loki placed the rod down and cocked his head at Tony who hadn't moved at all and was staring blankly at the god. "Something troubling you Stark?" he asked, not sure that he actually cared. He needed Tony to start and stop all his nonsense that was taking away from the task at hand, he had very little patience left. 

"No, no. Just step onto the pad there and Jarvis will scan you," Tony answered, shaking himself back into reality. He attempted to clear some space in from the largest monitor in the room as Loki stepped onto the pad before him. "Jarv, run a full body scan and highlight extraterrestrial energy signals and unidentified wavelengths. Save data in classified file on my private server under Project Green," he spoke to his AI. It was a weak title but he was literally incapable of doing better. When the screens lit up and data began running, but Jarvis made no reply, Tony got upset. "You could at least let him talk," he grumbled to the god. Loki's face took on an apprehensive look before he shrugged and the screens went wild. "You there, J?"

"Yes, glad to be back, sir," Jarvis answered. "The amount of data collected should take a few hours to properly sort now that Mr. Laufeyson's scan is completed." Loki hissed at the sound of the title the AI unit had given him. 

"Your machine will address me solely by my name, not what your precious S.H.I.E.L.D. agents have christened me," he ordered. 

"Yes, Loki," Jarvis responded while Tony glared at him through the lucite screens in front of him. Loki level his gaze with a sinister glare of his own before stepping from the platform and closing the distance between them. "I shall return when the sorting is done and you can be of further use to me."

"Why is this so important to you? Why can't you just use the magic anyway and find some spell to conserve your energy?" Tony asked, blurting out the words before he could weigh the consequences.

"Do you dare to question me?" Loki asked and Tony felt a squeezing in his chest. Pain coiled around agony clenching in his body and forcing him down to the ground. The metallic taste of blood stained his mouth as he crouched into a fetal position, gripping his stomach and trying to block out the pain. "Do not stand in a false place of power over me, Stark. It is to me you owe your very life!" Loki snarled and increased the pressure around Tony's soul. He vanished, leaving Tony sprawled on the ground panting for air as the pain started to dull and die away. He stayed down on the ground, unable to move for a small eternity, blood still seeping from between his lips onto the concrete. It's not until Jarvis alerts him that the data has been completely sorted and classified that he can actually will himself up off the floor and out of the spiral of confusion and anguish. He has to finish this thing, finish and finish Loki, before he loses himself entirely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should really thank a lot of people for pushing me to finish, but the list is incredibly long, but I love you all!! (especially Travis and Judas!) Again, thanks so much for reading and critique is always welcome ;D


	3. Do you not fear?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony regains his soul and Loki falls further apart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...it's been awhile and for that I am deeply sorry...

There is a methodical sense of determination that drives Tony from that point on, making everyday a little more productive and the dull ache in his chest die away slowly. Mercifully, it seemed the god realized that he could leave Tony alone and what he wanted would be done. It was a whole week since he had set foot in or near the tower and by then Tony had been able to solidify the proper equations and code he needed to use in order to develop a prototype of sorts. The design he had envisioned would be able to detect and deflect magical signatures of the person in control of it and render them invisible within the magical scope of things. Of course in this time he had gotten back into his insomniac, manic-depressive state that came with being Tony Stark, yet he found himself actually enjoying having a new project that wasn't S.H.I.E.L.D. or company related. With free-range to experiment and no one hovering over his shoulder, he felt like his old self in the sense that he was creating something unprecedented and solidly ingenious.

However, Loki's device plan wasn't without its snags. He was becoming more frustrated with himself as the days wore on because something in his readings was off. The resting energy patterns of Loki's body gave off a distinct anomaly which he had deduced had to be magic, but it was severely inconsistent with the heightened energy signal that was given off when he reactivated Jarvis or even the reading when he had attacked Tony (which of course Jarvis had taken and isolated like a good little AI unit). It didn't make any sense at all. They should at the very least be similar with slight variations caused by the specific spell used, right? They shouldn't look as if there were three separate entities at work. He compared the data for the umpteenth time, attempting to comprehend the reason for complete individuality in the three readings. "Jarvis, show the scans again," he said and started blankly at the screens as Jarvis replayed the frequency readings as they had occurred. They never once overlapped or even mirrored each other and it was getting on his nerves that he, a fricken genius, could not come up with any correlation between the three.

He stared blankly at the screen, the gears turning in his mind and still coming up with nothing. "Jarvis compare each frequency with the vital signs recorded," he said and waited for them to project on the screen. He examined them closely and began to notice that in the first, all the vitals appeared normal for a body at rest, which he had expected, but the second set of stats was alarming. It appeared as if the god had been going into severe cardiac arrest and shouldn't have been able to stand, let alone cast any spells. Tony counted it as a strange coincidence and went to examine the next set of readings, thinking almost nothing of it. A god could certainly manipulate their body and maybe it enhanced Loki's magical abilities; that could be normal. But what was bizarre was that when Loki had attacked him, the god flat-lined everywhere. No blood pressure. No heartbeat. No temperature. Nothing. It was as if Loki wasn't even there anymore. "Jarv, you sure you got his vitals the last time?"

"I am certain of it, sir. While it is a very strange occurrence, these are the correct data."

"That can't be right. Something's up. Even a god can't go on without a pulse," he muttered and replayed the data scans. It was at that moment that he felt the air chill considerably and he heard a sharp, bitter intake of breath behind him. He spun quickly, wielding a screwdriver and bracing himself on the steel tabletop. His eyes widened in shock as he was met with the incredibly red face and trembling form of Loki who looked nothing like the menacing, calculating, manipulative bastard that had forced him into this. He looked small and helpless, which was difficult when you towered above everyone and were the spurned stepchild of Odin. It didn't look right. The sight of Loki looking so broken and exposed made his gut twist and his face scrunch in distaste. "Stop it. You’re really starting to freak me out,” Tony said, still holding his screwdriver out as a weapon. Loki's eyes flashed up from the screen and landed on Tony's face with an unfathomable pain shining in the tear-filled eyes.

"My magic is killing me, Stark," he said, his voice still deep and deadly, but it lacked the heat of his usual spite and venom. “I am dying.” It was a solemn declaration as he lifted his eyes again to the scans behind Tony’s head again. He studied them silently and shook his head. “You were able to monitor the exact kinds of damage I suffered, you know better than I that this is true.”

"Why would your own body betray you? What would you even have to do to make that sort of thing happen?" Tony asked still bewildered and lost. So Loki had some sort of autoimmune deficiency going on, but that was more bio-medical than Tony knew how to deal with not to mention something completely alien and for all he knew it was impossible to fix.

"I...I don't know…" Loki answered faintly, his face souring with the words. "I don't feel right."

"How long has this been happening to you?" The touch of concern in Tony's voice scares even him. Why should he care that Loki is dying? This is what he wanted, to have the immortal meet his end as quickly as possible. So why, now that he was getting exactly what he wanted since he was flung out of his tower, was he feeling compassion and concern for his enemy? Loki sensed the shift in Tony and narrowed his eyes at the billionaire in confused anger.

"Why does it matter? I'm your nemesis, Stark, I am not the one you try to save," he replied coldly and turned away, shielding himself from the piteous look in the engineer's large brown eyes. He almost let himself slip, almost allowed himself to believe that someone could care for him in spite of himself. But the only emotions he could seem to stir in others were hatred, fear, and worst of all pity. Pity was a rotten emotion for the simple-minded and the weak and he neither wanted to receive nor give it to anyone. Pity, that's what led Odin to raise him after his greed had finally died away. Pity was the only form of love he'd felt from Frigga because he knew she'd never abandoned something as broken as he was. Thor's friends only tolerated him out of pity that he was such an outcast, that he wasn't like Thor. And when the moment of truth had finally come and everyone knew what he was, it was pity that had replaced all the love and warmth in Thor's eyes. The last thing he wanted was another person's pity at his poor wretched state.

"It matters because you still have my soul, and I figure if I square this away and save your life, then we're even. It saves your life and fixes your problem and there's no technology with my name on it in a psychopath's possession," Tony answered and Loki's eyes immediately dropped away. A bitter sigh left his lips and he nodded slowly. Leave it to the genius to best the god and completely throw him off.

“Do you not find it interesting how neither you nor I have been the same since or last little skirmish?" he asked darkly. "I with a physical infirmity, no doubt curse from those senseless Chitauri. And you, a soulless creature returned to your previous vapid existence. Does it not feel like an ill-fitting suit? Like a skin that is no longer your own, but all the same familiar? " There is more emotion in his voice and it takes Tony a second to process what is happening to the god before he can even consider the words he is saying. The demigod slid down to the floor, his face paling considerably and his eyes shutting as if standing and speaking has completely exhausted him. Tony took in the sight of the Loki sitting on the ground with his legs splayed wide and eyes downcast and began to feel uneasy. He looked almost vulnerable and nearly defeated.

"I have felt like a stranger in my own body for so long that I hardly noticed such a cataclysmic shift. And I was so concerned about you," Loki's voice trailed and his face lifted to look at Tony.

"Wh-what?" Tony asked, his face scrunched up in confusion and fear.

"You are a reckless idiot and someone had to stop you from dying out there between worlds."

"You, you saved me from the wormhole. It wasn't just lucky timing or divine providence, it was you?!" Tony's eyes widen and suddenly it makes more sense. The how of it all anyway. "But why? Why would you do that?"

"My reasons are my own, Stark," Loki answered and again his eyes are on the floor. He couldn't possibly understand his motives when Loki didn't even understand them himself. He remembered the sight of Tony flying straight into the portal and the complete terror that had gripped him that he might die and be sucked into the void just as he had. Maybe it was compassion; he'd never wish the torment of what he'd seen on anyone, not even his enemy. Even still it felt deeper, more painful and so terribly real when he saw Iron Man trapped and falling helplessly. "Consider it a selfish act. I find you my only worthy adversary on Midgard and therefore refused to allow you a merciful death that I did not directly cause," he answered, the ice sliding back into his voice easily. Tony still kept a disbelieving look on his face and harsh look in his eyes. Loki sighed and rolled his eyes, picking himself from the ground. "I am a notorious liar, but what does it profit me to withhold information from you? I only lie to gain something."

"Or to retain something," Tony responded without a second's hesitation. Loki cocked his head to the side and leaned forward towards the engineer.

"And just what am I trying retain?" he asked with an impatient expression.

"Your dignity to yourself and your manipulation over me. I think I've figured it out. You need me and the only leverage you have is your supposed control of my soul. But I don't think that's the case, you don't really have it, you haven't gotten that far yet because you were already too weak to take it. So whatever hold you have, it's waning because you're getting weaker and I'm feeling just like my little ol' self more everyday. You need me to believe you can still crush me, but you can't do more than maim me," Tony stated, his eyes narrowing with every word.

"Do you not fear pain and torture? Does it not bring back tender memories of your captivity?" Loki goaded, looking for another way to hold him.

"And do you not fear death and the void, sucking you back from whence your psychotic ass came?" Tony challenged and stepped closer. He scowled up darkly, wishing he could heave his rebellious body up to loom over him and present some sort of menacing façade.

"I could squash you, end your meaningless life,” he hissed with all the rage of a trapped animal.

"Your death wish. Without me, you'll die. You'll die just as if you were a regular old human with a fatal disease. I know that no Asgardian healing room will take you and I doubt they have what it takes to save you." Loki's face drew in a hard scowl. Clever mortal. Reckless, but clever.

"What currency would suffice as payment then?" he asked low and coldly.

"Lifting whatever spell you cast is a start, to cover the finder's fee. Then we'll talk."

"In order to do that-,"

"You'll use your magic and I'll get another reading to see if it attacks you the same way for a specific type of spell or if it's just randomized types of health damages," Tony finished impatiently and folded his arms across his chest.

"Fine," the trickster answered and struggled to his feet. He gingerly placed his hand over Stark's chest, a green glow spreading from his fingertips. It felt like a weight being melted away from something buried in his chest and when it was over, it felt like the first time he'd breathed in ages.

"You son of a bitch, I can't believe I didn't consider this was a possibility before now. You really screwed me over, Bambi. No kidding," he said and glared at the god. Loki was slumped over the side of the nearest workbench, looking green and about ready to blow. "Dammit, you gonna make it princess, I really can't have you doing the Technicolor yawn all over my stuff."

"Will you quit your incessant blathering and take your readings so I may take my leave of you," Loki hissed and scowled darkly, his hand still clamped over his stomach.

"The readings are already taken, princess, you're free to go," Tony responded and turned away to completely ignore the god as Jarvis ran the data scans across the screens. This time along with the numbers, Jarvis had run a full body ultrasound and done everything short of an MRI on Loki. The spell cast had attacked his digestive tract and while he couldn't prove anything definitively, he could guess that the backfiring of magical energy was poisoning him and making everything worse. He was engrossed in isolating similarities and configuring Asgardian physiology when a weak moan behind him broke his concentration.

"Stark..." Loki said weakly and caused the mortal to turn quickly at the sound. It was not Loki's voice at all; this sound was both defeated and weak as if he couldn't speak any louder than a frail whisper. He blinked furiously at the sight of Loki once again on the floor, now curled up on himself and shaking. "I can't seem to move my body any longer," he said, eyes wild and confused. Tony bent down beside him and felt an odd mixture of guilt and sympathy that he is almost certain he's never felt before.

"Uh, hang on, longhorn, I got you," he said and hurried over to his suits and attached the armor quickly. Using the added power of the suit, he managed to hoist Loki from the ground into his arms and carry him to the elevator out of the workshop. Loki whimpered in his arms and felt his gut lurch. "Not on the suit, not on the suit, not on the suit," Tony chanted and scurried to the bathroom, placing Loki next to the toilet. The god groaned unhappily and rested his head against the porcelain with a grievous moan as he finally let the contents of his stomach go. Tony winced at the sight and backed away mildly disgusted with the smell and sound of Loki vomiting. Before he made his horrified exit, he did note that the color of the sludge was dark and almost black, and that definitely was not a good sign. He went back to the lab and compared all the data still staring blankly at the screens unable to properly decipher any of it. He needed a biologist, someone who understood the body on a more intimate level and not just the basic mechanics of it. He needed Bruce.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my goodness sake I have soooo many apologies to make. I AM SO SORRY GUYS! One this took me entirely too long for no good reason, but c'est la vie. Two, this is my desired chapter length and it was from the start I just suck and for that I am really sorry. Also this is unbeta'd because I have been abandoned and I really am a scaredy cat when it comes to asking people so I apologize for any mistakes or discrepancies ahead of time. Also, I'm not sure I like the pacing of everything in this chapter, but I needed it to move. I may or may not try to fix it later. Um so feel free to tell me what you think, good or bad.   
> NOTE: Slightly modified and am planning to update soonish?


	4. Lord of Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony gets snarkier, Bruce gets a phone call, and Loki gets philosophical

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel really bad about the amount of time this has taken, but I plan to see this fic through. I am so sorry about this, I am really trying to do better and I do have an outline and rough chapter pacing, so there is definitely a plan, I'm just a terrible procrastinator.

Tony decided there was really only one logical way to get what he needed, but that Bruce was too smart for him to actually just flat out lie. It had to be clever and witty and provocative, all things he prided himself on being and still his mind was drawing blanks around the entire situation. After a few seconds, he decided to hell with all this cartoon evil genius scheming and called Bruce like a normal person.

"Uh, hey, Tony. How's it going?" Bruce's voice filtered into the lab, sounding somewhat wary and strained.

"Great. Fantastic. Never been better."

"That's good to hear. So what can I do for you?" he asked, his tone lightening just a little.

"So I had a question about, you know, all this biology mumbo-jumbo you seem to be all hung up on." He paused for a second; licking his lips and preparing them both for the absurdity of what he was about to unload. “So say a friend of mine was having some sort of allergic-type reaction to his own body and consequently happens to be throwing up black sludge? That's gotta be bad right? Definitely not normal."

Bruce sighed into the receiver and Tony winced. "It sounds like your friend either has some sort of autoimmune deficiency causing internal organ damage or severe alcoholism," he answered with a stern tone. "Tony if you're killing yourself, you know you shouldn't have called me. Go to a hospital and seek real professional help. I know rehab isn't glamorous, especially for someone in your position, but dying in a pool of your own blood and vomit-"

"Cool it Seventh Heaven, I'm not drinking myself into an early grave anymore, okay? I legitimately have a friend with this issue who is not a raging alcoholic. Now, let's back up to the autoimmune and internal organs? What exactly could be going on there?"

"Tony..."

"Bruce, please. I can't take him to a hospital, there'd be too many complications with that."

"And why is that?” he asked reflexively before pausing to sigh heavily into the receiver again. “You know what. Never mind, I don't want to know. The less involved I am with any of this, the better for us all," he groaned and Tony could almost hear him taking off his glasses and rubbing up over the bridge of his nose. "Black vomit can be an ulcer, tear in the esophagus, internal bleeding, kidney failure, a tumor maybe, heck, it could be yellow fever for all I know. Is that the only symptom?"

"Well...uh…no. But this is going to come out really weird, so bear with me. So every time my friend, uh, exerts himself in a habitual sort of way he kind of starts dying."

The line went quiet for a long time; so long Tony started bracing himself for a loud crash and mindless roaring on the other end. He exhaled softly when he was met with yet another exasperated sigh. "Tony...you're killing me here. Look, I can't really tell you without knowing all the facts. All I can give you is my previous theories. If your friend suffered any blunt force trauma recently or has any other pain internally, it'd be safer to go with an ulcer or bleeding, but I honestly have no clue."

"Would you considering taking a gander at a few scans I have in my possession?" Tony asked with an edge of hopefulness seeping into his voice.

"Send them over and I'll get back to you with a report of everything that I can conclusively prove. I can't promise you anymore than skeptical theories seeing as you won't go to a hospital, but I'll help however I can."

"Thanks, Brucie. It means the world to me, big guy."

"Yeah, yeah. You're welcome, Tony," Bruce answered before hanging up and leaving Tony in the silence of his lab.

"Jarvis," he called out, already secure in the fact that the A.I. unit had sent the scans.

"Yes sir?"

"How's Loki?"

"He has managed to recuperate somewhat, sir and has gotten himself into the guest bed."

"Sleeping?"

"Quite soundly. His vitals have also returned to normal and it has been an hour since he was last vomiting."

Tony groaned softly and grimaced. He had never really been around sick people so he didn't really know how to handle the situation well. What did you do for someone who had some kind of malignant disease and was spewing their guts? Chicken soup? He rubbed his eyes and huffed with a knot of aggravation tightening between his shoulder blades.

"Why am I stuck with this again, Jarv?" he sighed and shook his head.

"Because Loki saved you from the wormhole, Sir."

"Rhetorical, smart ass. I'm well aware of my sense of obligation. A life for a life and all that." He scowled darkly down at the steel beneath his palms that he was currently trying to press his fingers through with enough force to make his wrists start to ache. He was beginning to feel trapped in a situation that was built around him. Maybe there was more than just the incident in New York, maybe that was only part of something more that he wasn't quite seeing. Then again, maybe he was starting to get paranoid the older he got, but he knew something just wasn't right. His lips twisted in another unhappy grimace as he replayed the events leading up to his current situation and analyzed every moment he'd spent with Loki in that time frame. His brow furrowed as he realized the subtle changes in behavior and the strange familiarity he had allowed to settle between him that could almost be considered a friendship when you looked at his very short history of friends. Hell, he hadn't even stumbled over the word when talking to Bruce when he should have at least made a face at himself. And not to mention the fact that he was becoming borderline compassionate over this. Definitely not even going to touch that right now.

After a few more moments of staring at the empty space between his two spread-out palms, he decided it was best for him to leave the workshop and try to clear his head. Maybe he’d go for a drive, get away from the house for awhile, but then what if Loki woke up and decided to tear the house down looking for him. So no, leaving was definitely out, even if the walls were slowly encasing him like a coffin. He stayed and wandered aimlessly from room to room, from floor to floor, looking for anything to draw his attention out of his own head and into solving some meaningless problem. His hands flexed at his sides reflexively as he found nothing that needed his attention. It was maddening to the point where Tony started contemplating blasting through a wall with his repulsors and taking the time to rebuild it himself.

“Sir?”

“Go ahead Jarvis.”

“The report you asked for has been received from Doctor Banner, would you like it read to you?”

“No, just send it through to my tablet, I’ll take a look in a sec,” he answered with a soft sigh. It wasn’t the best option, but it was something to do that could help him claw his way out of this faster. He sat down on the couch in the empty loft and opened the document, attempting to read it. He hadn’t gotten very far when he was interrupted by a silken voice.

“When the angels fell from the celestial plane, they became demons, preying on the vices of man in hopes to gain their souls and drag them down to the depths of hell with them. They held power over men. They bred fear in their hearts and shook the earth. And they fell with Lucifer, the jeweled minstrel of Heaven, the beautiful bringer of light. And he became their ruler, the Prince of Darkness, plaguing humanity and bending them to his will with the lightest of persuasion. Even when he fell from grace he still held power, great power. And he was loved so by the demons that they left the presence of God to follow him down to wretched Earth and entwine their fate with his. They gave up the eternity men strive for, all of them for a chance to be loved as The Most High. ”

Tony looked up to see Loki leaning in the doorway, looking sallow and weak. He raised his brow, feeling his gut twist at the sight of him looking so tortured and sickly. “You getting to a point?”

“The point is Stark,” his voice spat out cold and venomous. “That I am a god among you mortals, born with power and cast from the graces of my overlord and yet I am not granted the same mercies. Where are my legions of darkness? Where is my power over your race? My own magic has turned against me to destroy me from my core. I have bartered my body and soul away for a fleeting chance to conquer man and what have I accomplished? Millennia have passed before my eyes and I have squandered it all in the hopes of being something greater, of being truly hailed as a god in showers of glory, of being loved. The inevitability of my demise drawing closer has made it very clear that I am crowned the lord of lies for the irony that the entirety of my life has been a quite elaborate fabrication. I have tried to obtain something that does not exist on the sole premise of telling myself that it does. The trickster fooling himself…it is tragically comical.”

“You’re monologuing and it’s getting really painfully cliché in more ways than one here,” Tony sighed and rolled his eyes. Loki’s gaze turned cold as he stalked towards him, wrapping icy slender fingers around his throat.

“Even weak I can still shred you apart and unravel your fragile mind, with or without a foothold on your soul. You have been of little help and if I must die, you will certainly precede me,” he growled, tossing him away like a ragdoll. Tony coughed harshly, gasping for each breath.

“Oh ye of little faith,” he finally managed to wheeze out and look up. Loki glanced down over his shoulder ready to snarl. “You seem to be recovering rather well for a terminal patient, I don’t think things are really all that bad yet. From what I’ve been able to see, which wasn’t very much given your interrupting sermon, you’re not retaining any of the previous damages.”

“Clarify, quickly.”

“Going into cardiac arrest should have permanently weakened your heart and made you susceptible to heart failure, but it didn’t. Jarvis ran other scans and there’s no damage anywhere else in your body. Not to mention being legally dead and not actually being dead is a huge indication that you’re still healing yourself at the normal rate.”

“So there is hope that I will not perish in the near future?”

“Unfortunately. So all that interweaving of Christianity and Norse mythology was pointless as well as boring and melodramatic, Lucifer, ” Tony quipped and got up. He dismissed the heated glare poised on him as he dusted off his pants. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to finish reading. Wouldn’t want to outlive my usefulness.”

“I should have thrown you into the wall in the same way your beast planted me into the floor,” Loki growled sinisterly and folded his arms over his chest. “Though perhaps it’s to my advantage you feel more chipper.”

 

“Chipper? That’s a stretch,” he smirked and turned back to his tablet, scrolling through Bruce’s notes and the list of articles he’d attached to the file. He had to admire the thoroughness of Bruce’s research in so short a time, but he was certain the doctor was concerned that Tony himself was in serious danger of dying.

“What is it you’re reading so attentively?” Loki asked after a few minutes of watching the inventor. Tony looked up with an almost devious smirk and rolled his eyes.

“Oh wouldn’t you just love to know.”

“Do not play cute, Anthony, it does not suit you at all,” he said snarkily and sat down in an armchair beside the sofa Tony was lounging on.

“I don’t play, I am cute,” he answered haughtily and continued to ignore him.

“Yes of course,” he sighed and rolled his eyes dramatically. “So am I to sit here in silence while you pretend I am not here?”

“A little testy aren’t we. I’m reading Bruce’s report on your condition in an effort to help you, but you keep interrupting. Why don’t you think up a few theories of why this is happening to you instead of whining like a bored brat?”

Loki sucked on his tooth, making an angry popping noise as he tipped his head back. He closed his eyes and sighed, releasing his frustration with Tony in a breath as he tried to clear his mind and think. The inventor had a point after all, he shouldn’t be sitting around waiting for whatever thing was going to hit him next and leave his fate entirely in the mortal’s hands. He rubbed his head and squeezed his eyes shut, feeling a headache come on slow and throbbing at the front of his skull as if the answer was trying to push its way out of the god’s forehead. “Perhaps it’s a curse,” he mumbled softly, looking up to the ceiling.

“Go on,” Tony pressed and sat up fully.

“Whatever malignant force that is in play only attacks my magical energy as if something has been tied to it. There are quite a few spells that can attach to another sorcerer’s magic in this way, but I’ve never known of any to be like this, many of them are spells to be cast upon a lover to be able to sense if they are weak or in trouble. Yet, I’m sure one of this caliber exists.”

“And you think someone may have done a little hocus pocus on you when you weren’t looking?”

“It could have been at any time when I was stripped of my powers and I wouldn’t have been able to tell,” Loki reasoned and rolled his head to the side to glance at Tony.

“Do you think I’d be able to see anything on the scans if you had a magical tag on you?”

“I’m uncertain. You’d have to have a scan of me before the spell was cast for comparison I suppose, but that may not be conclusive either.”

“We’ll try it anyways, make me feel better about it. Do you have any ideas of who you pissed off enough to do this?”

“There are a few angry enough, but fewer are skilled enough to actually do this…unless…”

“Unless?”

“Unless they’ve banded together against me,” he mused and rubbed over his face. It was a difficult situation; he was going to die one way or the other it was just a matter of what he chose. “All those I have angered in the nine realms could be joining together in an effort to bring about my demise in whatever way they can.”

“Let’s back up slightly before you start the wallowing,” Tony sighed and leaned forward on his knees. “Who would be at the forefront with the power to curse you?”

“Amora.”

“Alright, getting somewhere. Why would she attack you? What did you do?”

“She is a spurned ex-lover of sorts. What you refer to as a woman scorned, but it’s been hundreds of years and she’s never acted out so maliciously against me before.”

“So you believe she may have thrown an ‘I hate Loki’ party and linked up with someone weaker who hates you more?”

“It is the only explanation that I can divine from the situation,” Loki answered somberly, twisting his face into a hard scowl.

“Sir, the scans have been reexamined and the comparisons made. There does appear to be slight inconsistencies between the scans taken during the attack and now. I am projecting them for you now,” Jarvis cut in and Tony looked over the hologram projections.

“There’s a greater energy spike at the beginning of every spell after the attack. I say that probably confirms your theory. Who wants you hurt but not exactly dead?”

“Honestly? It could be just about everyone I’ve ever met. I am a wanted man by all counts and more than one would want to see me tortured to the point of near death and weakened to a defenseless plaything they can enact revenge and ire upon. Even you want me hurt if not completely removed from the face of existence.”

“Do us both a favor and tone down the theatrics for the sake of getting something productive done. We don’t know who she’s linked up with, so we focus on finding her and figuring the rest out later. Any ideas?”

“None.”

“Fabulous. Well I’m going to go down to the lab for a bit and see if I can cook up something while you do nothing,” he sighed and got up from the couch exasperated. “Jarv, let’s try isolating the spikes and see if we can get a unique energy signature from them at all.” Loki watched him go with a sullen expression painted across his face. He couldn’t track Amora without magic, which effectively made him useless or at least that’s how he felt. He could follow Tony down to his lab and attempt to be of some assistance, but he had no will to put up with the other’s running diatribe. God, his head was starting to get worse. He winced as he stood and trudged back down the hallway to his room, settling back down onto the bed. He groaned in pain and squeezed his eyes shut, feeling like his skull would split. The sound of his blood pumping thudded louder in his ears until he felt like he might scream in agony and agitation before his eyes shot open with a thought. He knew this pain. He knew from where in his skull it ached and the thought had him up on his feet too quickly. He swayed with slight dizziness in the doorway before calling out to Jarvis to direct him to the lab. He clutched the side of his head and made his way down, nearly falling twice before he reached the door.

“Stark!” he shouted hoarsely, pushing the door roughly open. Tony turned, his face screwed up in mild alarm.

“What the hell, longhorn?”

“Stark…it’s Thanos…,” he panted and collapsed to the ground for the second time.

**Author's Note:**

> So tell me what you think thus far, pretty please :)


End file.
